Process of clarifying, aging, and refining wines, liqueurs, and other vegetable extracts.



B. MONTI.

PROCESS OF GLABIFYING, AGING, AND REFINING WINES, LIQUEURS, AND' OTHER VEGETABLE BXTRACTS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1905. 1, 1 08,777.

Temperalure 50' In I00 6 Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUDO MONTI, QF TURIN, ITALY.

PROCESS OF CL'ARIFYING, AGING, AND REFINING- WINES, LIQUEURS, AND OTHER VEGETABLE EXTRACTS.

Application filed September 29, 1905.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Eooo Mom' a subject of the King of Italy, and resident of. Turin, in Italy, have invented certalnnew and useful Improvements in Processes of Clarifying, Aging, and Refining Wlnes, Liqueurs, and other Vegetable Extracts, of which the following'isa specification.

This invention relates to a process of clamfying, aging and refining vegetable extracts, such as. wines and other alcoholic liquors and has for an object to oxidize said. liquors in order to improve their taste and. correspondingly increase. their value.

Another object of this invention is to provide a process whereby approximately all the tartar, along with the albuminous and other undesirable matters may be separated from the Wines.

Still another object, is to, transform into tartaric acid and to separate from the wine as tartar, such of the oxidizable acids (as e. g. malic, succinic and the like) asare undesirable in good wines.

This process is founded upon the following well-known discoveries: Louis Pasteurs discovery that wine could be made to taste and look old by slowly oxidiz'ing'it at ordinary temperature; and. Frantz' Malvezins discovery that wine could be. made to taste old by first warming it, then injecting a suitable quantity of air into it while still warm,,then cooling it very quickly in a coil and lastly filtering it while cool. From these two discoveries, it became evident that it is the air which ages the wine, and the more air that is dissolved into the wine, the more rapid is the process of ripening. It is a well-knownfact that air dissolves in wine and spirits in proportions which increase as the temperature of the wine orliquor descends. Thus While 1000 c. c. of wine will dissolve 17 c. c. of air or say 12 c. c. of oxygen at the temperature of +20 (3., the same quantity of wine cooled to 0 C., will dissolve 25 c. c. of air,and at -10 (3., will dissolve 40 c. c. It 1s also a Well-known fact that the solubility of bitartrates and other matter dissolvin in the wine, diminishes considerably 'whi e the wine is being cooled, and that on the other hand, pectin and other albuminous matters curdle and separate Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

Serial No. 280,700.

much more quickly at a comparatively high temperature. I have also ascertained that air dissolved in wine under pressure at a very low temperature and allowed to act While expanding at a comparatively high increased percentage of, dissolved oxygen and the conversion of a part of it into a more active form, is characterized by the followmg steps:

First step, the strong wine or spirit is cooled to the lowest possible temperature without freezing and saturated with air. This may be done under pressure Second step, the wine is stored in a. cool room and the treatmentwith air repeated until the wine becomes clear and the insoluble matter separates.

Third 'step, the wine thus saturated, is slowly transferred to a room of. summer temperature +25 to +35 C. where it is left until some of the dissolved air becomes separated, and-the wine appears clear again.

Further cooling of the wine causes a new quantity of tartar and other insoluble matters to separate. The saturation with cold air, followed by the warming up to make said air expand. slowly, is repeated until the wine or spirit tastes and looks as old and as clear as desired. By this process, wine and brandy may in six months be caused to taste like wine or brandy six years old.

The accompanying drawing shows diagrammatically an apparatus suit-able to carry out the process of the present invention.

The wine is stored in well insulated tanks or reservoirs 1, and cooled by means of refrigerating coils 2, to a temperature near the freezing point of the Wine. While the wine is being cooled, I saturate it with finely divided air by means of an injector 3, repeating the operation until, in a few days,

the wine becomes perfectly clear. By means of a pump 4: it is then conveyed to-barrels 5 stored in a room 6, which room is warmed in winter to a temperature ranging from +25 to +35 (l, and left open in summer. lVhenthe wine, cooled almost to freezing point, is impregnated with air, the malic, succinic and other oxidizable acids contained therein, will oxidize, after having been converted into tartaric acid and then precipitated as bitartrate of potash or lime. The oxygen will then act much more quickly when the wine is warmed slowly in a room the temperature of which ranges from +25 to +35 0. Should there not be enough potash or lime present in the wine to recipitate all the tartaric acid formed, t e free tartaric acid slowly combines with the alcohol to form ethers, which greatly improve the taste of the wine. Those bitartrates which are formed when the wine is warmed, are separated out by again cooling the wine to almost freezing point. Should another oxidation be necessary to eliminate more of the oxidizable acids (as it for instance would be necessary with concentrated wines) the second cooling must also be carried on in the presence of air. The last cooling however, must always take place with the exclusion of air or better still, in an atmosphere of inert or reducing gas which is free from active oxygen and not injurious to wine. This gas may be dry carbonic acid, nitrogen or any similar inert gas. The wine having remained in the warm room until a sufficient quantity of the oxidizable acids have been transformed into tartaric acid, it is next conveyed to-a refrigcrating tank 7 by means of a pump 4c. Said tank 7 is previously filled with dry carbonic acid, nitrogen, or the like by means of the gas injector 8. The wine is allowed to remain'in this tank until it becomes perfectly clear without straining it.

Thisprocess is especially well-adapted for white, yellow and brown strong wines such as Marsala, Malaga, sherry, Madeira, and the like as well as to fortified white wines.-

For the'oxidation and clarification of red wines, especial care must be taken to dilute the oxygen with from one to three volumes of carbonic anhydrid or other gas free from oxygen according to the alcoholic strength of the .wine, inasmuch as oxidation of the cenocyanin (the coloring matter of red wines) will cause it to turn yellow first and to j precipitate afterward.

Beverages, such as brandy, cognac and liqueursbecome aged when cooled toa temperature below 18 (3., saturated repeatedly with air while at this temperature, and afterward stored in a warm room, until the acids combine with the alcohol forming ethers.

The term alcoholic liquors as used in the claims, is intended to include alcoholic or spirituous fluid, either distilled or'fermerited.

I claim 1. A process of treating beverages con- 'sisting in cooling the beverages almost. to their freezing point, in repeatedly saturating the beverages with air while cool in order to oxidize said beverages, in subsequently warming the beverages slowly to a temperature not to exceed +35 0. thereby liberating oxygen contained in the dissolved air, and finally in cooling the beverages in the absence of-air in order to separate the tartar and other insoluble matter formed during oxidation.

2. A process of clarifying and oxidizing beverages, consisting in cooling the beverages almost to their freezing point, in saturating the beverages, while cool, with finely divided air, subsequently in slowly warming the beverages to a temperature not to exceed +35 C. and finally incooling said beverages-in a non-oxidizing atmosphere.

3. A process of clarifying and oxidizing alcoholic liquors, consisting in first cooling said liquors almost to their freezing point, in repeatedly saturating the liquors with finely sprayed air while maintained at the low temperature, subsequently slowly warming the liquors to a temperature not to exceed +35 C. and finally in cooling them in an inert atmosphei 4. A process of treating wine, consisting in cooling the wine almost to freezingpoint, repeatedly saturating the wine with air at said temperature until the wine becomes clear, then slowly transferring said wine to a chamber of a temperature not exceeding +35 C. in order to permit the acid to slowly oxidize, subsequently cooling the wine with the exclusion of air almost to freezing point, and maintaining said wine at this temperature untilperfectly clear.

5. A process of treatingwine consisting in cooling the wine almost to its freezing point, saturating the wine with air while at this temperature and slowly warming said wine in order to cause the dissolved oxygen to be slowly liberated and to oxidize the acids and coagulate the albumin and other noxious'ingredients in the wine, subsequently cooling the wine to almost its freezing point and maintaining said wine at this temperature until the oxidizable acids have separated as bitartrates, or have combined with the alcohol to form ethers.

. 6. A rocess of clarifying, aging and refining hquefied vegetable extracts such as wines and liqueurs, consisting in saturating the extracts with air at a temperature of almost freezing point of said extracts until all insoluble matter has been separated; in

- subsequently increasing the. temperature of the extracts slowly to between +25 and +35 C. until the liberated air has been set name to this specification in the presence of free, causing a separation of products of two subscribing witnesses, in Turin, Italy, 10 oxidation; and in repeating said alternate September 12th,1905. v

cooling and warming of the extracts, until EUDO MONTI all insoluble matter has been separated and I a sufiieient quantity of ether has been pro- Witnesses:

duced. HUDJ. O. Fnyzomli,

In testimony whereof I have signed my ALEX. PIZZOTI. 

